Research into the slipway is ongoing , and for very good reason . Gilbert Hedden built a wharf in 1937 . In the same location as three others built previously . This drawing by Bobby Restall in 1961 shows the wharf , and gives a good description of what they found during exploration up until that time . The Restall's had access to documents , records and diaries dating back to before 1900 . There can be no doubt early treasure hunters had built wharves to enable the offloading of horses , men , and equipment . All in roughly the same location .
This photo is a digitized print of a glass plate negative taken sometime between 1937 and 1939 and was part of the Richard McCully collection . Some of Richards photos can be seen on the Nova Scotia archives website , this particular photo was labelled as being taken in 1931 , but that is impossible , the wharf was built by Gilbert Hedden in 1937 .
The original collection , consisting of over 450 glass plate negatives was passed to daughter , and then to a private collector . Sadly , when the collection was acquired by the New Brunswick archives dept in 2012 , only 221 negatives were found .
The original collection , consisting of over 450 glass plate negatives was passed to daughter , and then to a private collector . Sadly , when the collection was acquired by the New Brunswick archives dept in 2012 , only 221 negatives were found .
Here is another aerial photo of the eastern end of the island , showing the wharf .
Hedden's wharf was still intact in 1959 when the Restall family arrived on the island , having been maintained by local boatmen , no doubt for the purpose of landing tourists on the island . Note the drawing above by Bobby Restall , showing the wharf protruding out past the old cofferdam . Investigation by the Restall's found Gilbert Hedden's men had removed part of the cofferdam and used the stone as a base for the wharf .